Stormy Sunday Happenings

What does one do when stuck inside on a stormy Sunday?

Iron A LOT of clothes. This is just half of what I ironed, I did ALL my work pants and capris.

Pack for vacation 4 days in advance. I just bought this Vera Bradley duffle at the outlets and I love how much it fits--it was very surprising!

I hope all those who had to brave the storms this weekend are safe and dry!  And I hope that those out of Irene's path had a more exciting weekend out and about!

Ooh La Lattice

I rather love these Pottery Barn Teen chairs.

Lattice Ooh La La Armchair

Must do "to-do's" and someday "to-do's"

There are the must-do lists that we update every day. The work to-do list with things that must get done by a specific deadline. The home to-list with the week’s necessaries: grocery shopping, errands at the pharmacy, dry cleaner pickups, library books to return, bills to pay. Some things we enjoy checking off our lists. Other things we dread.

Then there is the sometime I must get around to it to-do list. Recently, I finally got around to checking off one of the things that has been sitting on my list for some time: framing my law school diploma. I had put off framing it initially since my budget was rather strapped from graduation-related activities and bar exam and preparation costs, but then I basically forgot all about it. When I picked it up Saturday a couple in their early 50’s was pondering frames for their various diplomas--let’s just say I felt better then about my own time delay in framing mine!! Maybe next I will get around to framing my college diploma. Mine is in a leather-bound book though, which may be tricky to frame--so that’s what has kept it at the bottom of my to-do list until now.

What’s on your someday I’ll get around to it list?

The Weekend: Vineyard Vines Warehouse Sale

This weekend I went to the Vineyard Vines Warehouse sale!  (Many thanks to Preppy Sue for mentioning the sale on her blog, otherwise I wouldn't have heard about it!) 

The sale is being held in Lawrence, MA through August 28th at an old, renovated mill building. Definitely a random location! There was a huge Vineyard Vines sign outside the mill building and a big one inside too.

Everything was very well-organized on tables and in boxes.  They had women's, men's, and children's clothes.  I got this half-zip sweatshirt in navy:

 And the shoreline polo in black:

And this skort:

Everything was at least 50% off and some things 75% off.  Definitely worth the trip!

Silly Me and a late weekend recap

In the "silly me" category, last weekend I bought a pair of J Crew cords at the outlet in the exact same color and style I already have--a chocolate brown.  Oops!  The only difference is that my pair from last year is a short to wear with flats and Saturday I bought regular length to wear with heels.

Vintage Matchstick Cord

The outlets (in Wrentham, Mass.) were a zoo last weekend.  I had never seen the parking lot so busy and I didn't even arrive at the height of the shopping day as I only got there at 4pm.  Back-to-school and back-to-college shopping seemed to be in full swing and tourists and locals alike were walking around with multiple, jammed shopping bags.  (If you're not familiar with the area, Wrentham is in ideal striking distance of Boston, Cape Cod, and Rhode Island so it always draws a big crowd.)  Plus, our sales tax holiday weekend meant that stores offering products that normally have a sales tax (like Coach and Sony) were also out the door.  As a matter of fact, the Coach outlet in Wrentham always seems to have a line out the door.  But the Kate Spade outlet is two doors down and never has a line.  Weird, yes?

While at the outlets, I also popped into Vera Bradley to pick up one of their big quilted duffle bags.  It had been on my "must buy" list for a while, but with a family vacation coming up over Labor Day I figured now was the time.  My family will be driving up to Nova Scotia, Canada for 10 days and space will be at a premium in the car.  A squishy Vera Bradley duffle bag and my LL Bean boat 'n tote should be much more space-saving than my gigantic rolling suitcase.

In other news, last weekend flew by!  Who's in favor of a law requiring mandatory 3-day weekends all summer?  Friday evening I attended a 90th birthday party for a great aunt on my father's side of the family.  Sunday afternoon my parents hosted a small cookout for my two great aunts on my mother's side of the family and my mother's two cousins (one is my godfather) and their wives.  All my grandparents have passed away and my family is small overall, so we are very close to these very special aunts!  We will be visiting a few more special aunts on our Canada trip. I'm so glad my grandparents had younger siblings!

Prepping for FALL

I have been working hard prepping for the fall show season for Pink Maple Design.  My mother and I have been filling our September to December calendar with craft festivals and shopping nights.

And last weekend I ordered a banner to display across the front our table in our booth.  It's fairly basic and similar to our business card.  I ordered it from FedEx Office and they are so simple to create.  (They also have cute design templates for banners for baby showers, weddings, and all sorts of special occasions.)

I've also been taking lots of photos of my mom's beautiful work.  I did a few themed photos of hats like this:


Now I have to get down to business making new headbands!  Stay tuned.

Promises Not Kept . . . But Apology Accepted

A week ago Sunday (see 7/31/11 post) I posted a complaint email I sent to J Crew customer service regarding a private shopping morning held at their stores for J Crew cardholders on July 30th. In sum, the invitation promised a private morning of shopping with refreshments and the store’s personal shoppers on-hand. The store event I attended had neither; in fact, it couldn’t be described as an “event” at all, but merely an early store opening.

Well, in response to my Sunday email I received a fairly standard email reply from a customer service representative on Monday. Basically: Thank you for letting us know, we take these comments seriously, will forward to appropriate team, etc. Not a very good answer, but at least a quick response.

Fast-forward to last Thursday, when I received a phone call from the store manager of the J Crew at which I had attended the “non-event.” She talked with me for a bit and asked me to tell her about what happened (or didn’t happen) while I was shopping and was very apologetic about the poor service I had received and hoped that I wouldn’t be dissuaded from coming back. She also admitted they had dropped the ball on prepping for the shopping morning and explained that normally they order a bouquet of flowers, scones, and orange juice for special events like these.

(One interesting thing I learned in my conversation is that they offer what they call a “shop and share.” Before store opening or after store closing you can shop with 3 friends and a personal shopper and get 20% off your entire purchase.)

Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised that my concerns had made their way directly to the store so quickly (and at all). So, while thumbs down to J Crew for not living up to the event’s invite; thumbs up for their response!

Lucy at 100

I am big fan of classic tv shows and movies; so it may come as no surprise that I love Lucy.  In honor of Lucille Ball's 100th birthday, a couple of my favorites:

This image and the one below are from "Hollywood at Last" the first episode in I Love Lucy's California trip. Upon arriving in Hollywood Lucy, Fred, and Ethel decide to lunch at the famous Brown Derby restaurant in hopes of seeing some movie stars up close.  Lucy gets the shock of her life when none other than William Holden sits down at the next booth.  I would imagine this would be akin to Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt suddenly appearing for a bite to eat today.  Needless to say comedic moments ensue and William Holden ends up with a entire dessert tray in his face courtesy of Lucy.

When Lucy arrives back at their hotel suite, Ricky returns from the movie studio with . . . William Holden for coffee.  Lucy attempts to disguise herself with glasses and a putty nose, but William Holden ends up lighting her "nose" on fire when he tries to light her cigarette.

This scene is from another of the I Love Lucy California episodes.  Lucy is determined to buy a Don Lauper original dress while in LA so she can brag about it to her friends back home.  I love this episode because I think it's still something all women can relate to today--wanting that special designer dress in their closet!

What I'm Reading Now

. . . Or rather what I just finished reading on Monday!

Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster

I remember picking up Pretty in Plaid in the library shortly after it came out a couple years ago, but couldn't get into it.  On a library visit 2 weeks ago, I spotted Bitter is the New Black and decided to give it a try as I was in the mood for some light, funny reading.  I'm glad I did as I really enjoyed it! This was the first of Jen Lancaster's memoirs and I think it will help set the stage for reading her other books.

Have you read any good books lately?

Next up: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon and The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  I also have Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews waiting in the wings, but I know that's a guaranteed enjoyable read so I'm holding off on that until my vacation at the end of this month.  And I need to get my hands on Wendy Holden's latest novels:  Gallery Girl and Marrying Up but they're not available in U.S. yet, so no Kindle edition or Amazon free shipping.  Boo!  Eventually I'll give in and order them from the U.K.

I know it's August, but my mind is on Fall

Has anyone else seen the new fall line of Sperry Top-siders?  I've been finding my gold ones to be so comfortable and practical for when I don't want to wear sandals (Prime example: last night's Red Sox game. There was an hour and a half rain delay and my feet would have been très soggy traipsing through puddles.)

Sperry Top-Sider Angelfish in black/boucle (at Zappos)

Angelfish in linen/leopard

I have grand plans to catch up on blogging starting now.  I've had so many post ideas and no time to get them written.  Work has been extremely busy and uncharacteristically stressful.  But I attended a conference for work Sunday through yesterday.  During the conference downtimes I was able to enjoy a little browsing (the Sperry's caught my eye in one such browse through Lord & Taylor) and a quick visit for fro yo with the lovely Beantown Prepster before she headed back to England.  And today I am enjoying a vacation day.  So I plan to start back tomorrow refreshed and hopefully will resume my usual time to blog in the evenings or early mornings.